Visas issued by the Libyan embassy in Ta' Xbiex, which represents the government in Tobruk, will not be recognised by the Tripoli government rendering them invalid for entry to Libya, charge d'affaires Hussin Musrati said this morning.

Addressing a news conference at the embassy in Balzan, Mr Musrati, who is a representative of the Tripoli government- formed around the Libya Dawn militia - , said his government will be issuing its own visas in the coming days.

He was unable to explain, however, whether Tripoli would recognise visas issued by other Tobruk embassies in Europe or elsewhere.

He expressed surprise that Malta was insisting on recognising the "illegitimate" Tobruk government and said that no contact was made by the Maltese government with him or the Tripoli government, especially since the Libyan supreme court had declared the Tobruk government illegitimate.

The Tobruk government is the Libyan government recognised by the European Union.

Asked about claims that Tripoli was sheltering IS militants, Mr Musrati said that this was just an excuse by countries such as Saudi Arabia, which was against the Arab Spring, to attack Libya.

IS fighters, he said, were not bearded as seen in the pictures published in the western media.

The news conference was attended by a number of injured Libyans who had been brought over for treatment in Malta in recent months.

Some said that they would be returning to Libya to fight "the remnants of the Gaddafi regime", with reference to Tobruk fighters.